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Tom Werner explains why Liverpool sold Raheem Sterling

Nobody was speaking about Raheem Sterling yesterday as Liverpool beat Stoke on Premier League opening weekend, but earlier this summer – his subject totally dominated the back-pages.

We eventually agreed to part with the troublesome youngster, after Manchester City agreed to pay a whopping £49m for his services.

While many saluted the club hierarchy for getting such a large amount of money for the 20-year-old’s services, others suggested it was symbolic of the suggestion that Liverpool cannot keep hold of their best players – noting Luis Suarez’s departure last summer, having previously sold Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano.

But chairman Tom Werner has promised fans that it was in the club’s ‘best interests’.

“The first thing I’d want to say about that is that we’ll only ever sell a player if we believe it’s in the best interests of the club. We have demonstrated that previously,” Werner told the ECHO.

“It was clear to us that Raheem didn’t want to stay at Liverpool.

“It was our collective decision that when the price we set was met by Manchester City that it was in the best interests of the club to sell.

“Regardless of how it played out, Raheem made an important contribution to the club during his time at Liverpool and I believe that he’s an outstanding player.

“I look forward to seeing him when he comes back to Anfield to play against us.”

Firstly, we can assure our chairman that Sterling will not be getting the warm mooted reception when he first returns to Anfield.

In fact, with the player acting incredibly unprofessionally in his efforts to leave, totally disrespecting the club and those that first gave him a chance in the process, the winger’s greeting will be vitriolic.

But until then we shouldn’t waste time worrying about Sterling, and should instead focus on the plethora of attacking midfielders who actually want to represent Liverpool.